Sexaquark dilemma in neutron stars and its solution by quark deconfinement

Abstract

Following the idea that a stable sexaquark state with quark content (uuddss) would have gone unnoticed by experiment so far and that such a particle would be a good dark matter candidate, we investigate the possible role of a stable sexaquark in the physics of compact stars given the stringent constraints on the equation of state that stem from observations of high mass pulsars and GW170817 bounds on the compactness of intermediate mass stars. We find that there is a "sexaquark dilemma" (analogous to the hyperon dilemma) for which the dissociation of the sexaquark in quark matter is a viable solution fulfilling all present constraints from multi-messenger astronomy. The parameters needed to model the hybrid star including sexaquarks are in line with parameters of pre-existing quark- and hadronic-matter models. We find that current constraints -- tidal deformability in accordance with GW170817 and maximum mass above the lower limit from PSR J0740+6620 -- can be satisfied two ways: with early quark deconfinement such that neither sexaquarks nor hyperons are present in any NS interiors, or with later deconfinement such that a neutron-sexaquark shell surrounds the inner quark matter core.

21 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables

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• Hybrid star phenomenology from the properties of the special point
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• Density-Induced Hadron-Quark Crossover via the Formation of Cooper Triples
• Observational Probes of the Neutron Star Equation of State with Hyperons, Bosonic Dark Matter, and Quark Matter
• Quark deconfinement in compact stars through sexaquark condensation
• Fastest spinning millisecond pulsars: indicators for quark matter in neutron stars?
• Probing Strange Dark Matter through $f$-mode Oscillations of Neutron Stars with Hyperons and Quark Matter
• Properties of the Object HESS J1731-347 as a Twin Compact Star
• Coalescence production of sexaquark with three diquarks in high-energy nuclear collisions
• Bayesian inference favors quark matter in neutron star interiors
• Rapidly Spinning Massive Pulsars as an Indicator of Quark Deconfinement
• Non-Thermal Production of Sexaquark Dark Matter
• Properties of H particle-admixed compact star
• Compact Star Twins with a Dark Matter Core
• Density functional approach to quark matter with confinement and color superconductivity